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CELEBRATE MULTIVERSITY
2009-12-20 09:00:00
Poem by Charles Frederickson; Graphic by Saknarin ChinayoteThe fundamental problem is indifferenceActivating passivity reversing hateful fearsOpen to understanding respectful toleranceWillful compromises agreeing to disagree
Praying to whatever God listensKeep the faith universal salvationChristmas Kwanzaa Ramadan HanukkahSolstice 
Dharma wheel turning full circlePrickly holly sneaky mistletoe kisses'Elf conscious North Pole meltdownYuletide carols harmonized Silent NightStar of Bethlehem Nativity crecheKwanzaa Swahili for First FruitsAfrican harvest bountiful taproot blessingsUplifting spirit marching ever onwardKinara candles red black greenFasting from dawn to sunsetObligation demands appetite denial continenceEid-ul-Fitre feast shared willful charityThanking Allah for blessed mercyStill believing in wondrous miraclesTemple flame burned eight days
Illuminating everlasting light rekindled daily
Menorah candles votive lamp remembrances

Celebrating Tree of Life diversi...
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NOAH'S ARK 2.0
2009-12-20 03:45:00
by Frank JoussenOn Day One After CopenhagenNoah stepped out intothe pouring acid rainand started buildinga state of the art rocket-cum-spaceshipwhich would have madeWernher-von-Nazi-Braunturn green with envy.On Day 39 A.C.the Lord thanked his old builderfor being such a good engineerand environmentalist over the years.Noah simply asked, "when´s the launch?""Well," said the good Lord,"tomorrow. But this try will bewithout the humans."Frank Joussen is a German teacher who has contributed to New Verse News before. He also works with local ngos in Brazil and India, where his first selection, Building Bridges, was published in 2008.____________________________________ _______

AMNESIA
2009-12-19 09:00:00
by Mary Dingee FillmoreIt's always urgent. Like poison, only a fewmore drops will end whatever war it isthis time. Drops which now swirl in humanvessels, veins. We count only our side's bodies,and even that is unbearable, even smotheredin flags. Go and walk there, among their graves.Watch the woman in a dark coat wring her redhands, blow her red nose. Walk the battlefields,where the dead killed and were killed, underorders. Show me the bomb that smashedthe White House columns, the Presidentwho lost his arm that night, and his daughter,and his clean sleep, forever. You knowthe man I mean - it's always a man -the one whose voice says "We have to go inand finish. The generals need more troops."When did they not? Crimea? Ticonderoga?Vietnam? I can't remember if I'm twentyor forty or sixty. Maybe eighty. In fact, I don'tknow if my name is Mary or my mother'sor my grandmother's, or even if I'm Canadian orGerman or Afghani. I just knowI've heard it all before.Mary D...

PARADELLE: U.S. CONGRESS AND COPENHAGEN
2009-12-18 21:00:00
by Esther Greenleaf MurerThere’s no such thing as global warming.There’s no such thing as global warming.Carbon dioxide is good for you.Carbon dioxide is good for you.Warming as carbon’s nothing therefor you; such good is global dioxide.Glaciers and ice are too much with us.Glaciers and ice are too much with us.The Eastern seaboard deserves to drown.The Eastern seaboard deserves to drown.Ice deserves the seaboard too muchand Eastern glaciers are to drown us with.We can get natural gas out of rock.We can get natural gas out of rock.No one needs water; let them drink Coke.No one needs water; let them drink Coke.Let no one drink gas; Coke needs rock.We can get them out of natural water.There’s ice deserves gas to letthe Eastern carbon rock for you.Natural dioxide no can get with usout of warming drowndrink no one needs.We glaciers are such as waterboard them;much sea is global Coke and good thing too.Esther Greenleaf Murer lives in Philadelphia. Her poetry has appeared most r...
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POTATO CONSCIOUSNESS
2009-12-18 09:00:00
by Bob MuirI came by a potatoand thought some…on the Irish who boretheir homes across the pond,and Van Gough’s Potato Eaters, sharing their harvest,in communal hardship.Where faminecaused a revolution.Really, who was it that said,“ let them eat cake.” ?And then,because we need to know,The paper prints:The missing five year oldgiven up to prostitution,by her mother,has been found dead.Thank God for that.and the news broadcasts:that a man on I-95 crashedinto a sign today and ranup the embankment.Then to finish the jobhe jumped back intothe morning commute.Was he hungry too?Bob Muir was born in Boston, raised in NYC, and later returned to New England, and has been a resident of Providence RI for the last 30 years. He retired from the Providence Police force after twenty years of service. Bob is bilingual-Spanish and writes poetry in both English and Spanish._________________________________ __________
More About: Consciousness

WEST SIDE BLUES
2009-12-17 09:00:00
by James K. Zimmerman and I heard         ;   the three of you shouting         ;   outside the window of my         ;   fifth-floor walk-up         ;      &nbs p;      on a sweaty summer night and I ran         ;   to the window to see   &nbs...
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THE HITLER OAK
2009-12-16 09:00:00
by Michael HaeflingerIn June 2009, controversy erupted in Jaslo, Poland after the city council elected to cut a tree down in order to make way for a new roundabout. Protesters lobbied to save the tree, despite it having been planted as a gift from Hitler to the occupied city on his birthday in 1942.were your seeds evil, too?branches only longings to reachout and swipe us all away?leaves only brooms for sweepingyourself under history’s carpet?what of the smaller treeswho sprout at your trunk?foot soldiers in your endless armyor resistance fighters racingto obscure you, to bring youdown.why are you here? more important: howdid your story survive?why not shred the recordsof your birth from the officefile cabinets in which they coweredfor half a century?why are you here to putus to this test?how far has the wind carriedyour acorns across the continentand those people there,do they know?Michael Haeflinger is originally from Dayton, OH. His poems have appeared on Maverick, BlazeVox, ...

GO-SLOW PARTY
2009-12-15 09:00:00
by Bill CostleyNo longer obfuscatingthings done under Dubya,radical Republicanz playGO-slow Party , saying:“Let’s do...Nothing!”about global warming,about health-carecosting anything.The less they do now,the more they block;the more they block,the worse things get.Bill Costley serves on the Steering Committee of the San Francisco Bay area chapter of the National Writers Union.___________________________________ ________

NAMES OF THE DEAD II
2009-12-14 09:00:00
by Floyd Cheungof the ones we don’t knowof the ones not published in The New York Timesof those who fight on the other sideof those who are caught in betweenof their names, ranks, hometowns, ages, andby whom they are belovedEditor’s Note: Click to read Names of the Dead I.Floyd Cheung has taught American literature at Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts, since 1999.____________________________________ _______

MALL BOOKSTORE IN ALBANY, NY
2009-12-13 09:00:00
by Steve Hellyard Swartz(with a nod to Allen Ginsberg's "A Supermarket in California")What fears I fear this fine afternoon, Allen,     old friend, as I walk through the parking lot      of Crossgates Mall on Thanksgiving SundayIn Border's, the Border Songs pipe along like merry train wrecksWhole families in the cafe stuff themselves      with scones and muffins and giant cookiesWhole families flightless and full of mirthLook, Allen, at the shelves where the nudges and winks      of the crazy and avaracious of the earthSit side-by-side with Elie Wiesel's NightSteve Hellyard Swartz, a regular contributor to New Verse News, has piles and piles of poems ready to be published. He has won Honorable Mention in the Allen Ginsberg, Mary C. Mohr, and Anna Davidson Rosenberg Poetry Awards. In 2009, poems of his were published in The Paterson Review and The Southern Indiana Review...

ICONOGRAPHY OF ART
2009-12-12 12:24:00
by Holly Daythe tide threatens to come and tearour legacy down—handfuls of sandpoured through fingers forgedinto building blocksthis is for the generationsI say to my son, half-believingour tiny castle will withstandtime, stand until unearthedby derby-wearing, monocle-sporting archeologistsfrom future civilizations that will never suspectwe built these turretsin just one dayHolly Day is a journalism instructor living in Minneapolis, Minnesota, with her husband and two children. Her most recent nonfiction books are Music Theory for Dummies, Music Composition for Dummies, and Walking Twin Cities. Her poetry has most recently appeared in Bottle, The MacGuffin, and Not One of Us.______________________________________ _____

PEACE & WAR
2009-12-11 09:00:00
by Mary SaracinoPeace isa heartbeata breatha bowl of riceor soupor pastaor beans a kissa caresslaughtersafetyschool bookshealth carejobsjoygratitudeWar is flat-linesrattling rales deafening dirgesa litanyof mangledgutsoozing brainsrighteous causescold coffinsanguishterrorsenselesshorrorduty togodcountryhonorgloryMary Saracino is a novelist, poet and memoir-writer who lives in Lafayette, CO . Her most recent novel, The Singing of Swans (Pearlsong Press 2006) was a 2007 Lambda Literary Awards Finalist. Her short story, "Vicky's Secret" earned the 2007 Glass Woman Prize.___________________________________ ________

SALVATION 2009
2009-12-10 09:00:00
by Jean Liebert     When I joined the teachers in 48, The thought of sickness gave me the shakes.      What would I do if the polio bug Came to our house to give us a hug?     Health insurance was available to all, So I signed up with a sigh of relief.     No more lying awake at night With the fear of pending grief.     We no sooner got it “just right,” When everything began to crumble.     Fir st the economy failed us And we all began to grumble.     Job s began to vanish overseas And Wall Street came tumbling down.      Just like Humpty Dumpty It remains in pieces all around.  &nbs...
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STRAIGHT TO JESUS
2009-12-09 09:00:00
by David BrennanDuring Gay TV’s commercial breakRicardo’s assistant Victoria patsaway the perspiration beadingthe host’s upper-lip. The stage lightsare too close, too beating. Why botherturning on the airif he still sweats like a coldglass on a hot day? Ricardois Catholic and drinks too muchcoffee. He also has an idea or twoabout his faith that he likesto keep under wraps. For instance:who decided Jesus was straight? Sure, the rumoredmarriage with Mary Magdaleneis popular with the parishioners,but look at the facts: who did Jesuspack about himself? Men.Twelve: eggs in a carton.Twelve: sardines in a tin.Twelve: grown men like schoolgirlsgawking at the rock star’srad shredding and riffs,not to mention his dirty-hipgood looks. Wasn’t it truehe taught them all howto love? And Christ the free radicalhad to understand thepositives of pleasure, of pressureand release, the pain principle—could he, Ricardo, with calm rational, reducethe Passion of Christ to metaphorfor ho...

GUERNICA 2009
2009-12-08 09:00:00
by George HeldThe bombing [of Basque Guernica on 26.4.37] inspired the Spanish painter Pablo Picasso to make his famous painting Guernica, which was first shown at the Paris World's Fair in 1937. When the painting was finally shown in Spain in 1981—six years after the death of Spain's Fascist dictator, Generalissimo Francisco Franco—it had to be displayed behind bulletproof glass.Even bulletproof glassWouldn’t protect a paintingFrom today’s terrorists:They’d blow up the whole gallery,The whole museumThe whole block.How innocent seem those StukasFlying low over Basque countryTo lay their eggsIn civilian nests.Those were the days, whenBig-time fascists like FrancoHitler and MussoliniHad armies and air forcesAt their commandAnd quickly cowed their people,And the great German ArmyQuickly conquered PolandAnd the other helpless landsUntil Hitler made his bigRussian mistake.Today terrorists are commonFolk, inhabit people’s mindsAlmost everywhere—That’s the point of terror...

STAYING AWAKE
2009-12-07 09:00:00
by CB FollettThe young men in the neighborhood,I mean, the young men,the ones who are menby the time they are seven,      seven come elevena crap shootwhen young boys are menand the men are fightingone to a sack.And the mamas,the mamas are granniesbefore they hit twenty-eight,and the two in the playpenare nephew and aunt,daughter and grandsonmixed up togetherin the toys, rancid spit-up,noise, and the no-time-to-nap,those two, or her,or any of them.Don't turndon't napand watch when you nod,there's always trouble waiting.Bad daysnights worse,school's gone,jobs whistle in your face.Government wants youfor their looking-good-chartswith your spanish nameand your black facethat don't get you nothing,nothing good at all.Winner of the 2001 National Poetry Book Award from Salmon Run Press, CB Follett has had poems published by Ploughshares, Alligator Juniper, Calyx, Americas Review, Peregrine, The Cumberland Review, Rain City Review, Ambit (Eng...

A TRIBUTE TO OLD TOM WHO WAS SHOT FOR BEING "A NUISANCE IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD
2009-12-06 11:56:00
by Leah MainesI'm sad about our sweet old turkey. I miss him. He would come up to the door and to the side window and just look in. He was as old as dirt. He would run away instead of guard anything. But he liked to prance around and flirt with his two hens. He would beg for bird seed and steal from the bird feeder. He liked cheerios.Leah Maines is former Poet-in-Residence of Northern Kentucky University. Maines is the best-selling author of Looking to the East with Western Eyes, #10 in the "Cincinnati/Tri-State Best Sellers List" (Cincinnati Enquirer). Her most recent collection Beyond the River (KWC Press, 2002, 1st edition) won the Kentucky Writers' Coalition Poetry Chapbook Competition._____________________________ ______________
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DEMONCRAZY
2009-12-05 09:00:00
by Charles FredericksonDemoncrazy has lost lustrous panacheIn Gold Wet Rust corrrrosiononoNO!Dog eat dogmajority slide ruleWhat’s in it for U$?!Bipolar horseshoe magnet unhappppy hoooofersmAlice’s white rabbbbit-foot pedicure pauseCocksure lobbbbyists sharpening dependent clauseWhat’s in it for U$?!Anti-Congressss party poooopers thwarting ProgressssHaunted house chamber of horrrrorsSENATOR anagram TREASON discrediting zillllion$$$What’s in it for U$?!Of – By – For – furtive peeeepholeSmart-Mart Open 24 Hours closedJoblessss opppportunity doooors slammmmed shhhhutWhat’s in it for U$?!Washington DCeption SOS = State Of Social-inSecurityPollllcat skunks fOXOXOXOXy cry babiezzzzQuestionabullll unsureveys mmmmulti-mmmmedia statistic-tac-toeWhat’s in it for U$?!Dr. Charles Frederickson. Name: D. Mentor Stan Doubt; Nickname: Nun; Address: Genial Devilry State of Denial; Zip: B9-1-1; Phone: Taco Bell; Faxhole: telepathetic moonsense UFOcult; Sexile: manimal; He-male: e-di...

ANOTHER APOLOGY
2009-12-04 09:00:00
by David FeelaI’m so sorry for the pain(Guess I’ll won’t do that again,)I have caused my family.(though I did it just for me!)I know I have let them down(I’d better appear with a frown)and lost their generous trust.(but wow, that generous bust!)I would like to make amends(I’d kick the media’s ends)by trying to be the man(and screw the devoted fans)I used to be, one that repents(but I love the endorsements.)and puts it all in the past.(How long does this interview last?)David Feela's work has appeared in regional and national publications. He is a contributing editor and columnist for Inside/Outside Southwest and for The Four Corners Press. His first full length poetry book, The Home Atlas, is now available._______________________________ ____________

NAMES OF THE DEAD
2009-12-03 09:00:00
by Floyd CheungCLEAVERFRAZIERHANDSHERMANStaff SergeantSergeantLance CorporalSergeantJohnDanielNicholasBenjami nMarysville , WashingtonSt. Joseph , MichiganKansas City , MissouriPlymouth , Massachusetts36252021BelovedBelovedBelove dBelovedFloyd Cheung has taught American literature at Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts, since 1999.____________________________________ _______
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THE DAY AFTER THE END OF THE WORLD (DEC. 22, 2012)
2009-12-02 09:00:00
by Lori DesrosiersI will walk out on my front porch, watch the children throw snowballs,cheer on the postman in his high boots,marvel at sun filtering through pine branches,sing a song my mother used to sing,shovel some snow, sweep up the house,make a call or two, joke about the weather,pick up an ornament from the floor,put on the tea kettle, start chicken soup,sit in my chair, pet the orange cat,finish the dishes, make the bed,put in a load of sheets , edit a poem,remark to my husbandhow delightful it isthat we are still here,after all that hullabaloo.Lori Desrosiers lives in a big house with a front porch in Westfield, MA and likes to sit and observe the world, then write about it. Her poems have appeared in many reputable publications, including The New Verse News.____________________________________ _______
More About: World , The World

JUST SAY O! NO! TO WAR
2009-12-01 09:00:00
by Mary SaracinoWe cast our votes for peace, not warWere we wrong? We were wrong?We filled our hearts with hope of changeWere we wrong? Were we wrong?We cheered the Nobel Laureate onWere we wrong? Were we wrong?For sowing seeds of peace not harmWere we wrong? Were we wrong?Listen O, and heed the callDon’t be fooled. Don’t be fooled.The front line’s here, at home, not thereEnd the war. End the war.With wages lost and health care woesHear our cries. Hear our cries.Cast your vote for a different wayKeep the peace. Keep the peace.Just say no, it’s not too lateDon’t escalate. Don’t escalate.Mary Saracino is a novelist, poet and memoir-writer who lives in Lafayette, CO . Her most recent novel, The Singing of Swans (Pearlsong Press 2006) was a 2007 Lambda Literary Awards Finalist. Her short story, "Vicky's Secret" earned the 2007 Glass Woman Prize.___________________________________ ________

THANKSGRIEVING
2009-11-30 09:00:00
by Elizabeth KerlikowskeA few of us still at the table with cake and pieand strong spiked coffee, another Thanksgivingwhere football insists that men and Hoosiers gatherbefore an ever bigger screen in a choreographedsilence, where the judge sits as far awayfrom the felon as possible, and on the couchan adopted black girl naps next to my father whoregularly says “nigger” except for today.There’s that to be said for football.But back toward the kitchen,the next generation of women dishes to the nextabout their aging folks, their quirks and questionabledecisions. When does helping become enabling?And isn’t talk of what parents do always justa little bit about money? To vent is good; to solvefrom hours away impossible. Days of indigestionelapse before I realize this. Sweet sight of faces…if only their mouths were basted shut.Elizabeth Kerlikowske's fourth book of poetry Dominant Hand is now available from MayApple Press. She teaches at Kellogg Community College and runs the ...

THANKSGIVING 2009
2009-11-29 09:00:00
by George HeldThe old football coach tells the radio host,“It’s great we’ll have a night gamein the NFL on Thanksgiving this year.Previously we just had the two early games.Now we'll have something to watchAfter we eat the turkey.”Now, that’s something to be thankful for,Like the news we’ll be out of AfghanistanBy 2017. Of course, that “we”Won’t include the thousands of war deadAnd the thousands who’ll die without health care.The formula is dazzle ’em with footballAnd ignore ’em on ending the warAnd providing universal healthcareAnd reducing carbon emissions,And pray the market won’t tank.“We cower together to ask the Lord’s blessing,”The old hymn goes. “He chastens and hastensTo make His will known.” Can his willInclude a gluttonous assault on factoryFarmed turkeys while the Lions mew on TV?The first whites to give thanks in “The NewWorld” fasted a day or two before feasting.Today only the poor fast and without choiceWhile gluttony produces ...

DUBAI ON E-BAY
2009-11-28 09:00:00
by Earl J. WilcoxFirst on the auction scene,a multi-billion dollar ski slope,followed by seventy-five sand islands,and the world’s tallest (unfinished) building.Bidding bonus: 500,000 Expat slavesfrom the Philippines , Egypt , India , and Croatia .Opening bid: Emirates’ dignity.Earl J. Wilcox writes about aging, baseball, literary icons, politics, and southern culture. His work appears in more than two dozen journals; he is a regular contributor to The New Verse News. More of Earl's poetry appears at his blog, Writing by Earl.____________________________________ _______
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WEATHER REPORTAPRIL 2009
2009-04-06 10:34:00
by Jill J. LangeI don't need to tell youabout this winter's coldor about the stock marketfalling steadily as the snowand freezing rain.Anyone who listensto the news or reads a paper,assuming you can find one,knowsand livesthis depression.Tell me how you are countingthe cards you are dealt.Where have you put your money?Have you found a guru,gone back to your therapist,renewed your prescription for Valium?Do you live in California wheremedical marijuana is an option?Do you want to know my cure?I'm counting robins.The sun came out last week,I spotted two robins under the maplewith the snowdrops,and further down the roadanother scratching grass,then two more.I'm up to twenty-one, no thirty now.You can trust a universethat creates robins.Jill J. Lange is an attorney and poet whose writing reflects her passion for the natural world and her interest in political and environmental causes. Her poems have appeared in The New Verse News previously.
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MY CURRENT STATUS
2009-04-05 10:00:00
by Lylanne MusselmanFacebook invadesmy space, createstendencies to twittermy time away.Lylanne Musselman resides in Indianapolis, Indiana. She's an Associate Professor of Writing at IUPUI, and she teaches creative writing classes at Ivy Tech Community College in Indianapolis and at the University of Indianapolis' School of Adult Learning. Her story feature, L WordS, is aired live monthly on BloomingOUT a weekly broadcast on WFHB radio. An award winning poet, Lylanne's poetry has appeared or is forthcoming in Flying Island, New Verse News, Ichabod's Sketchbook, Tipton Poetry Journal, Poetry Motel, among others. _______________________________
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AMERICAN CIVIC ASSOCIATION
2009-04-04 12:25:00
by Alan CatlinNo one thought itcould happen herenot at ColumbineNot the HokiesNot the Binghamton folksEspecially not the receptioniststhe ladies taken down by loneshooter intent on taking outthe unarmed, defenseless,unsuspecting, victims of premeditatedmass murder: one dead already in her area,the other critically wounded calling 911 to say I've been shot.feigning death thereafteras the shooting continued in no exitclassrooms seventeen more would fallrear exit blocked, hostages takenin this place of aide:"Were here to help you"serving the defenseless, the poor,the confused, the lostImmigration issues handledCommunity outreach arrangedBasic services providedWe're here to preventthe killers from taking overCommunity Center Closed untilfurther notice Funeral arrangements and death noticeswill be announced once all the details are knownAlan Catlin's latest chapbook is a long poem, Thou Shalt Not Kill, an updating of Rexroth's seminal poem of the same name. Whereas Rexro...
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GAY SHEEP
2009-04-04 10:00:00
by Lee SchwartzThere’s a lab off the Pacific Highwaywhere they snare gay sheep, turn them straight,no more wooly love come draggingby the top edge of the hill.Injecting gay sheep with estrogento keep the natural order:replant fences and implant desire,to plump them up for slaughter chops.We play God in the gardenwhile most species in the wild are choked;the salmon have lost their way,snared in black tarry waters, the seal extinct.The future is drawn in plastic buckets,genes in savings deposit vaults,tinkering with nature’s Gameboy,creating dwarf melons, mating grapes.What does man want to extolthat Thoreau has not celebrated,while we go sheep shopping at the Gap,admiring every hanger of iceberg lettuce.Don’t tell me who to love,Don’t legislate my heart to fall on blue or brown eyes,I am not your coal mine or your cornfield,I will choose whose lips to warm.And the sheep with the coarse and wiry coat?Wouldn’t we prefer sleek and glossy?What about seeing eye cats? Faster tur...
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MEMO TO 'BAMA
2009-04-03 11:09:00
by David M. LawsSo let me see if I understand what’s happening:we worked our asses off for months and months,sent in our ten bucks each, used our rolloverminutes calling voters in Ohio and Florida , wroteletters to the editor, and sweated bullets to getyour ass elected, so you could appointall the discredited advisers of your opponents?And yes, I understand they work for youand you set the agenda, but my impressionwas that you had ALL NEW ideas andALL NEW talent and ALL NEW people.I mean if we had wanted the Clintons and their baggage,we could have voted for her, and if we had wantedleftovers from eight years of Bush’s crimeand incompetence and degredation we could have votedfor Grampy and the wicked witch of the Great White North.So I’m left thinking, what IS this?OK, man you’re the boss, and you say you can controlall these near-nazis, free market pirates, and neobuffoons,but all I’ve got to say is this had better bemajorfuckinggood.David M. Laws graduated in 2005 from W...
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